Park Ridge cop charged with beating 2 cuffed teens

November 15, 2010

A Park Ridge police lieutenant has been charged with battery and official misconduct for beating two 15-year-old boys four years ago after they shattered the window of his car.

Lt. Jason Leavitt, 39, a 16-year veteran with the suburban police department, was ordered held on $10,000 bail by Judge Nicholas Ford.The incident occurred on Oct. 28, 2006 when Leavitt was off-duty and driving to his second job as a security guard at Maine South High School, authorities said. As he drove by the Park Ridge cemetery, the teens shot at his car with a sling shot, shattering the rear window, prosecutors said.

Leavitt called a Park Ridge police dispatcher, then chased the teens as they ran from the cemetery, Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Mike Golden said in court.

Leavitt caught one of the boys and hit him in the back of the head as the teen was about to climb over a fence. The teen lost consciousness, officials said.

Leavitt continued to beat the teen until police pulled him off, prosecutors said. He then punched the boy in the face as the teen lay on the ground and punched him in the head after the boy was handcuffed, Golden said.

Meanwhile, the other teen was caught and handcuffed a short distance away, authorities say. As the boy was lying on his stomach on the street, his hands cuffed behind him, Leavitt walked up and began kicking him in the head, Golden said.

After the boy was placed in the back of the squad car, Leavitt walked up and began punching him in the face, authorities said.

When the boy tried to slide to the other side of the car, Leavitt walked around, opened the door and began choking the boy, prosecutors say.

The teens were taken to the Park Ridge Police Department, where their cases were dismissed. The following day, one of the teens was treated for a concussion.

Prosecutors, with the help of the FBI, said they began investigating the incident in January of 2009.

A grand jury indicted Leavitt on three counts of aggravated battery and seven counts of official misconduct. Both charges are felonies.

Ford refused prosecutor's request for Leavitt to turn in his firearms while the case is pending, saying the case was nearly four years old and there was no indication Leavitt used a weapon or misused his firearms since then.

Leavitt's lawyer Thomas Needham said Leavitt has been a lieutenant with the department for the past half-dozen years.

Leavitt was stripped of his police powers and put on administrative leave today, Park Ridge Police Chief Frank Kaminski said in a statement. He said pending the legal process, "we will move swiftly to take whatever steps are necessary to hold him accountable for his alleged actions."

"On behalf of the men and women who carry out their duties in the finest tradition of the Park Ridge Police Department, we are disappointed and appalled because allegations of abuse or other misconduct by officers threatens the relationship we have with those we serve," Kaminski said in the statement.

"I wish to apologize if this matter has brought a degree of discredit upon this fine Department," Kaminski said.